Sunday, January 23, 2005

IMBB 11 - Nupur's Pan-fried Sprouted Lentils



The following IMBB 11 entry was emailed to me by Nupur ...

Hi, Being a veggie, I LOVE beans of all types! For this IMBB I made"Pan-fried Sprouted Lentils". It's a tasty and easy recipe, takes about 10-15 minutes to put together. I started by sauteeing onions, ginger and garlic in some oil in a pan. To this I added turmeric, chili powder, cumin and coriander powder and seasoned it with salt. After frying the spices for a minute, I added sprouted lentils (see note), sauteed the lentils in the spices for 2 minutes, then added 1/4 cup of water and covered the pan for 7-8 minutes till the lentils were steamed and tender. Finally I tossed in some lemon juice and minced cilantro. This tastes great with some tomato, cucumber and whipped yogurt as a salad; or wrapped into a pita; though traditionally in India it is eaten with rice and "dal".

A note on sprouting lentils: I am baffled by all the fancy contraptions sold to sprout beans. I make sprouted week every week using two very hi-tech tools: a colander and a clean cotton cloth! I start by soaking a cup of beans or lentils (any kind that is sold whole will do) overnight. Then drain out the water and rinse the soaked beans several times. I place the cloth into the colander and then the beans on the cloth, and fold the edges of the cloth over the beans. I keep the beans moist by running water over the colander twice a day. In 2-3 days, you have sprouted beans! A cup of dry beans makes about 3 cups of sprouted beans.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing this recipe. Hubby decided that he hates lentils after I bought a big bag. Maybe I can change his mind by sprouting the lentils, plus he's a big fan of Indian food. I think this might just be the recipe to convert him into lentil-lover.

Anonymous said...

I made this recipe tonight, and it was great! I have a slightly-fancier-than-a-collander sprouting device--a ball jar with a plastic lid with holes in it. I love getting new things to do with my sprouts!

Balabusta
www.sabbathmeals.typepad.com

Anonymous said...

My partner and I tried this recipe tonight. Since spice amounts aren't listed, I just put 1 onion, 5 cloves garlic, 1 inch fresh ginger, and a teaspoon of each of the spices. I already had a cup of sprouted lentils on hand, so this dish was a breeze to make.

We put it over wild rice. It was delicious! Thanks for sharing it, and thank Nupur for us.

Ramki said...

Hi

Am blogging your take on Nupur's sprouted lentil recipe as a model recipe in the 1001 Poriyal cookbook at http://ramkicooks.blogspot.com

Thanks for the recipe

Lance said...

Ive also been sprouting for over 30 years and as you said all you need is a collander and white cotton cloth.I would like to give more detail. I soak any of the seed you want for 1 day in a bowl full of water and keep emptying the water off the top and refill until the next day. Then for small seeds only I put one layer of cloth until there big enough to fip into the collander without all the seed going thru the holes, also this saves you from the mess of trying to get the sprouts out of the cloth fibers. Then rinse as often as you can. Important in hot weather, also sprouts dont need light until you clean them for there last time before the fridge as if you like it can geen them up. I also clean by floating them in a large plastic bowl of cool water and carefully agitate them with my finger tips to loosen the seed husks which can be bitter sometimes. The husks float on top of the water and the seeds that are defective are heavy and rest on the bottom. This is more the effect for small seeds. Then I clean off the husks on top by coraling them into pile and dump the water over the edge with the husks a little at a time until most are gone which is seperating them from the cleaner ones.Then scoop the sprouts out of the middle of the water with my fingers like a rake and place them into a collander gently as not to damage the sprouts which makes them rot faster. This leaves the slow sprouting, defective sprouts which usally I throw out. If your really trying to get the most out of your seeds can be seperated and resprouted the but usally to not much avail. If you like very clean sprouts which are I do, you can use this method 2 or 3 times over the sprouting period but be careful as they are delicate. And if you pull the last sprouts out of the collander holes its best keep them seperate and eat asap. Another trick is when you go to refrigerate them, 1st drain well of excess water (finished dripping) and then before putting them to sleep, place white paper towels 3 or 4 towels deep on the bottom of the container (plastic). Then place them carefully, dont pack down this will keep them from rotting much longer and provides a moist but stable envirorment. I know my comment is 1 year later but better late than never! Chow, Lance Eriksen

Tim said...

Hey, I tried this today and it was simple and delicious! The sprouts were similar to rice noodles which I love, and the spices and seasonings give it so much flavour.

Added a dash of dark soy sauce at the end and enjoyed!